When Officer Dustin Clinkscales of the Austin Police Department pulled a woman over earlier this month for a routine traffic stop, he had no idea that he would soon be saving her life.
According to KVUE.com, Clinkscales stopped the woman on July 5 on suspicion of using her cellphone while driving. When the officer approached the car, however, he quickly realized that something was amiss: the woman was clutching at her throat.
“Are you ok? You choking?” Clinkscales asked her.
The woman, it turns out, was choking on a biscuit and couldn’t breathe. Clinkscales immediately pulled her out of her seat and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her until the biscuit became dislodged.
The loss of oxygen reportedly caused the driver to faint, but Clinkscales was able to catch her in time before her head hit the ground.
The entire encounter was captured on video by the officer’s dashboard camera.
KXAN.com reports that the woman’s father happens to be a detective at the Austin Police Department. The woman has opted not to speak to the media, but her dad, Detective Damon Dunn, told the news outlet that his daughter is “very thankful.”
“She says she’s lucky [Clinkscales] was there,” he said.
Austin Police Department Commander Michael Eveleth praised Clinkscales’ life-saving action this week.
“It's really amazing how quickly he recognized that something was wrong, how quickly he acted and cleared her passageway,” Eveleth told KVUE.com.
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